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Last year's iOS 10 was all about refining Apple's mobile experience -- it was "like polishing a pearl," I noted at the time. Now, with iOS 11, Apple is focusing even more on its big-screen iPad experience, but at the same time, it's leaving the iPhone a bit behind. Even though we didn't get any dramatic changes last year in iOS 10, it brought along a slew of useful features to the iPhone. That included bringing apps and Snapchat-like elements into Messages, as well as opening up 3D Touch more to developers. This time, though, iPhone users might have a hard time noticing that they've upgraded. On the flip side, iOS 11 is great news for iPad fans who want to do more with their tablets.

It's no secret that smartphones have tended to get sleeker and less obtrusive over time. Screens are growing, but bezels are shrinking. In a very real way, the boundaries between us and our information -- our apps, our contacts, our very desires reproduced in pixels -- are melting away. Apple has sensed the industry shifting around it, and it made the iPhone X in response to that. But, in a bid to make the transition less jarring, Apple also made the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus.

They're familiar-looking phones that mostly operate the way people expect them to. They're conventional. But that doesn't mean they're inherently lacking -- far from it, in fact. While I suspect all iPhones will look like the iPhone X soon enough, the 8 and 8 Plus are expertly built, high-performance devices for people who want to ease into Apple's vision of the future. And who knows? These just might be the last conventional iPhones Apple makes.

The last few years have been good to Nintendo fans. There have been plenty of games starring the company's italian mascot, new adventures in the land of hyrule as well as re-releases of some of the most popular Legend of Zelda games in the last twenty years. Even Donkey Kong Countrymade a comeback. Metroid, on the other hand, seemed almost forgotten. Now, for the first time since 2010's Other M the franchise is finally getting proper outing. A 3DS remake of the Game Boy's Metroid II -- appropriately titled Metroid: Samus Returns.

When LG took the wraps off of the LG V30 at IFA last week, it spent nearly 20 minutes of its 50-minute presentation talking about the phone's dual-camera system. Juno Cho, president of mobile communications, rattled off statistics like "almost 80 percent of smartphone users use their smartphone at least once a week to shoot videos." He also said that "we are literally on the verge of transitioning from storytelling to story-showing," which is almost as crazy as Samsung's new catchphrase: "Your New Normal." I digress.

HP went big with its Omen gaming machines last year, giving us some major VoodooPC flashbacks in the process. Unfortunately, the laptops felt like a downgrade from the slick Omen gaming notebook that HP launched in 2014. This year, the company decided to turn things around. The new Omen 15 fixes everything wrong with the previous model, thanks to a more stylish design and VR headsets with enough graphics power. It doesn't stand out from the increasingly crowded gaming laptop market, but it at least allows HP to stay in the fight.

Last year's Galaxy Note 7 was a big step forward for the Note line, pairing an impeccably built body with an updated S Pen and excellent performance. Then they started blowing up. The Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus did well to rehabilitate Samsung's image as a top-notch phone maker, and now the company is trying to make up for past mistakes with the brand-new Galaxy Note 8.

Samsung had a lot to prove, and it mostly succeeded. There's no doubting that the Note 8 ($929) is a great smartphone — it packs all the usual flagship amenities, not to mention a dual camera that works very, very well. The problem is, the Note 8 feels a little... by-the-book. Samsung, frankly, got so much right with its other huge phone, the Galaxy S8 Plus, that the Note 8 doesn't feel as triumphant an improvement as the Note 7 did in comparison with the S7 line. Don't get me wrong: The Note 8 is still Samsung's best smartphone, and one could even argue it's the best big phone out there. Just know that it's a pretty conservative update, and that it's going to cost you.

My co-workers mercilessly chide me every time I review a Chromebook. "They're all the same!" they laugh. I then patiently explain the many variations on the Chromebook formula that exist. From no-frills $200 bricks with lousy screens that simply get you online to premium laptops with great design that cost nearly as much as a good Windows machine -- there's actually a pretty wide variety of Chromebooks out there.

However, in the case of Samsung's Chromebook Pro, the sales pitch is basically identical to the ASUS Chromebook Flip, which I reviewed last month. It's a well-built laptop that feels much more expensive than its $550 price, it has a great screen that flips around so you can use it as a tablet and it's one of a few Chromebooks that supports Android apps from the Google Play Store.

I tried a preproduction version of the laptop back in February and found it lacking on a few fronts. Then, the final hardware was a bit delayed, and I experienced some rather notable bugs. But with those launch troubles in the rearview mirror, I've settled in with the final hardware to see if it can match the expectations I had back in January with the Chromebook Pro was first announced.

Andy Rubin was disillusioned. He helped build the Android operating system. He watched as Google acquired the company, and he steered development on the mobile OS for years after that. And somewhere along the way, he grew a little weary of how the smartphone market worked.

To hear him tell it, the mobile industry prioritized iteration over innovation, to the point where it centered itself around only two companies: Apple and Samsung. Convinced that Apple's premium phone business model would work for a startup, Rubin set about building his own phone, and here we are. That startup, Essential, offers its new PH-1 as a remedy to the industry's ills. It's a premium smartphone with an impeccable pedigree that embodies progress and choice and openness. That was the idea, anyway.

Here's the thing about lofty goals though: You're almost never going to achieve them in one shot. And really, that's the Essential PH-1 in a nutshell. It's an exceptionally crafted device and a stunning first effort from a company that didn't exist 18 months ago. While the PH-1 stands as a testament to Rubin's vision, a few shortcomings keep it from being as truly great as promised.

Google's Tango augmented reality technology isn't new, and its debut last year on Lenovo's Phab2 Pro left a lot to be desired. I mean, honestly, as neat as AR apps can be, an enormous phone with a mid-range chipset wasn't the best vehicle for them. Meanwhile, ASUS was fine with waiting, and that has made all the difference. The new ZenFone AR ($599+) is better than Lenovo's earlier Tango phone by almost every measure that matters, and it supports Google's Daydream VR platform, to boot. The idea of a phone that's as good at augmented reality as it is at virtual reality is tantalizing, but I'm not convinced the ZenFone AR is going to make a believer out of anyone.

Last year, Motorola pulled off a stunning feat: It built the first modular smartphones worth using. The Moto Z and Z Force played nice with the company's burgeoning line of Moto Mod accessories, but they otherwise served very different purposes. The Z, with its shockingly slim profile, was a testament to Motorola's talented engineering team. As for the Z Force, its shatterproof screen and big battery made it ideal for people who valued functionality over form.

This time, things are different. Motorola's new flagship, the Z2 Force ($720), replaces both of those devices, and it's obvious that the company tried to blend the best bits of the old Z and Z Force into a single body. All told, it's sleek, sturdy and powerful, but the compromises Motorola made won't work for everyone.

After making its name building microphones for both amateurs and professionals, Blue made the leap to headphones back in 2014. Its first model, the Mo-Fi, featured a built-in amplifier and the company followed up with three others, including a planar magnetic set that also has an onboard amp. All of those options were wired, though, and if we've learned anything about "courageous" smartphone makers these days, the headphone jack is on its way out. To cater to the wireless craze, Blue announced its first wireless headphones, the Satellite, at CES in January. While this $400 model features and amp for top-notch audio, the Satellite lacks a key selling point for headphones: comfort.

Even die-hard fans have been ready to write off HTC for years now, and I can't blame them. The company's phones have fluctuated between greatness and mediocrity, while its competitors have improved by leaps and bounds. So, what's a company in a kind of existential peril supposed to do? Well, making a phone like the new U11, for starters. It's shiny, laden with gimmicks, and -- spoiler alert -- the whole thing falls short of perfect for a few reasons. Even so, HTC has gotten enough right in this ostentatious package that you should definitely start (or restart) paying attention.

It's been years in the making, but Chromebooks are escaping "second computer" or "cheap netbook" status. Google thinks these machines can be your main computing device, and they're finally getting better build quality, nicer screens and quality keyboards. But they're also getting higher prices.

ASUS' first entry into the premium Chromebook space is the Chromebook Flip C302. This is the second Flip ASUS has made, but it's significantly different from the first, which was a tiny, netbook-sized device with a low-quality touchscreen and weak Rockchip processor. But for only $250, it offered the essential Chrome OS experience in a super-portable package.

The new Flip is a different beast entirely, made to compete directly with Samsung's $550 Chromebook Pro. It has a bigger, pixel-dense screen, Intel processor and access to the Google Play Store for Android apps. The Flip's $470 price, significantly higher than the original, reflects these upgrades. But after spending a few weeks with the Flip C302, I've come to think it might be the best Chromebook on the market right now. It's not perfect, but it's enough computer for almost anyone.

Playing the electric guitar in a cover band can be complex. You need to be able to sound like a wide range of different guitar players, each with their own distinct sound -- much of which is based on their unique amplifier and effects profile. The Fender Mustang GT series of amplifiers, consisting of 40-, 100- and 200-watt models, aims to squeeze a range of classic Fender sounds into a single digital cabinet.

Imagine being able to sound like Prince, AC/DC and Chic in quick succession onstage without having to change out any of your gear. That's the Mustang GT promise, and -- for the most part -- Fender succeeds. With a full-featured set of pre- and post-effects modules, customizable presets and a deep catalog of amplifier emulation available, Fender has made it pretty easy to sound however you want, provided you're OK with a solid-state sound rather than a tube-based one.

Thanks to Baby Driver, we've all been reminded of our love affair for the MP3 player -- namely the iPod. Now that Apple Music, Spotify and others allow us to carry millions of songs on our phones at all times, the days of frantically loading a dedicated media player before leaving the house are long gone. However, that doesn't mean a tiny device that easily fits in your pocket is no longer a worthy music companion. Enter Mighty, an iPod Shuffle-like gadget that syncs Spotify playlists for offline playback and the most compelling case I've seen in awhile for a separate music player.

The ASUS ROG Zephyrus is an entirely new breed of gaming notebook. It packs the most powerful laptop graphics hardware available, NVIDIA's GTX 1080, into a chassis that's almost half the size of similar machines. Mostly that's due to being one of the first notebooks to feature NVIDIA's Max-Q design standard, which is laser-focused on slimming down gaming laptops with beefy GPUs. That does lead to some compromises, especially around battery life, but the Zephyrus is still a wonder to behold.

When most of us think about Nintendo hardware, we think about the gimmick. The motion controls of the Wii, the second screen of the Nintendo DS, the stereoscopic visuals of the 3DS and the duality of the Nintendo Switch. These innovations define Nintendo's brand -- but it's not the only hallmark of Nintendo hardware.

The company is as much of a house of iteration as it is innovation, particularly when it comes to portable gaming. Almost every one of its handheld consoles -- from the original GameBoy to the Nintendo DS -- has been revised, retooled and released in a new form. Nintendo has made five versions of its original 3DS hardware, and it's about to release one more: The New Nintendo 2DS XL.

The HP Spectre X2 is, in many ways, the ideal way to counteract Microsoft's Surface lineup. It retains the slick, high-end style that we loved from the original model, while improving things a bit to make it much more user friendly. Its unique design is a way for HP to show it can make premium devices on par with the likes of Apple. But while it's a better Surface Pro competitor than before, there's still plenty of room for improvement.

Siri may have ushered in the era of the digital assistant, but Amazon's Echo (with Alexa) really took that concept and put it in our homes. The Echo wasn't an immediate, breakout hit -- but having Alexa around to ask questions, manage smart-home devices, play music and much more has turned out to be a pretty great thing. It's a concept Google and Apple are now chasing (to varying degrees), but Amazon isn't standing still.

The $230 Echo Show is the first Echo with a touchscreen, and since it was announced, we've been wondering how much a display will really add to the Alexa experience. It depends on what you want to do with it and where you put the Echo Show in your home. But after a week with Amazon's latest, I'm convinced that yet another touchscreen in your life actually makes the Alexa experience better in a lot of ways -- and that's not to mention the special tricks the Echo Show brings.

The Surface Pro is everything we've ever wanted from Microsoft's Surface line. It fixes the few remaining problems from the Surface Pro 4, a machine that I adored. And yet it's far less exciting than its predecessors. It's the second incremental upgrade since the Surface Pro 3, and while there's something to be said for sticking with a solid design, in a way it feels like we've seen all of this before. Given that it's been a year and a half since the launch of the Surface Pro 4, I expected more.

We've been following OnePlus and its journey to build a better flagship phone for years. Along the way, it managed a feat that's difficult for even the biggest conglomerates: The company kept outdoing itself. I don't mean to spoil the fun here, but the team has done it again with the OnePlus 5. Really, what's most striking is just how much this tiny company managed to get right in a phone that costs less than $550 (more on that later). It might not have every single whiz-bang feature that you'll find in other flagship smartphones, but the thoughtful balance of style, power and price make it a star.

Just a few years ago, the idea that Microsoft could be one of the most exciting PC makers around would have seemed insane. The first Surface didn't inspire much hope. (I distinctly remember wanting to throw it out of a window during my review). But, like any wise newcomer, Microsoft learned and improved with every new Surface. The year 2015 was when it all came together, with the excellent Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. (That the upcoming Surface Pro looks almost exactly like its predecessor is a testament to great design.) And earlier this year, we got the Surface Studio, a unique attempt at reinventing the all-in-one PC.

With all of that innovation, the idea of a traditional Surface notebook seems, well, a bit boring. But the Surface Laptop is anything but. It might not have the flashy features of its siblings, but it's far more focused on one thing: being a great notebook. Not everyone wants a hip hybrid tablet. Many people just want a portable, well-built and powerful machine with great battery life for getting all of their work done. In that respect, the Surface Laptop delivers in spades. The only problem? It's powered by Windows 10 S, Microsoft's more restrictive OS meant for schools, which could end up frustrating plenty of consumers.

Never mind that Apple keeps updating its notebooks and desktops -- Tim Cook once said the iPad represented the future of personal computing. That was one year ago, when the company revealed the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and he seemed to mean it. Of course, you don't need me to tell you that a lot can happen in a year.

The iPad that Phil Schiller revealed after Cook dropped that bombastic statement has already been discontinued, making way for the shiny new 10.5-inch model Apple unveiled at WWDC 2017. The Pro 10.5 ($649+) feels very familiar, not to mention surprisingly powerful, but that's no surprise -- every new iPad Pro that Apple releases is the best one out there. What's more impressive is how finally -- finally -- Apple has put together an iPad that feels capable of living up to the company's lofty words. It's not perfect, and it's not for everyone, but the iPad Pro 10.5 is still a bigger step forward than I expected.

DJI's Spark is the company's first attempt at a true drone for everyone. DJI has made no secret about the fact it thinks non-RC enthusiasts want a lightweight, compact quadcopter that's easy to control. That's exactly what the Spark is. But after spending some time with it (and a Mavic Pro, for comparison), I'm torn. The Spark is, indeed, incredibly fun, simple to use and easy to carry around. But, the gesture controls aren't as useful, or reliable enough for new pilots. And therein lies the dilemma.

For other riders, an electric motorcycle is a two-wheeled invitation to talk. It's the lack of sound that initially tips them off. They always ask about range and speed. But mostly range. How far can they ride before they would have to plug in? With the new Zero Motorcycles DS 6.5, it's a conversation that requires explaining a few caveats about its 67 mile in-city range (it has a smaller battery so it's cheaper and lighter). Surprisingly, they get it.